


Learning to Be

by Namimed



Series: Love is Love and Clothes are Clothes [2]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Boys In Love, Boys in Skirts, Lee Minho | Lee Know-centric, M/M, Multi, Neo Pronouns, and hyunjin jeongin use xe/xem, as usual, changbin and seungmin are very briefly mentioned, generally everyone wears short skirts but minho isn't really comfy with that and wears longer ones, minho uses they/them, some donkeys use slurs against hyunjin and minho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:48:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28057938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Namimed/pseuds/Namimed
Summary: Minho discovers that they also like to wear skirts, however they much prefer long skirts, knee-length or more. This is them learning about that and doing so with others. General soft affection between all of them.
Relationships: Bang Chan/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Everyone/Everyone, Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Hwang Hyunjin/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Lee Felix/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Lee Minho | Lee Know/Yang Jeongin | I.N
Series: Love is Love and Clothes are Clothes [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2052390
Kudos: 57





	Learning to Be

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, the scene where the donkeys use slurs is very brief and is between the dotted lines. They use tr*nny and f*gs.  
> Thank you to Val for beta-reading once again and Yona for reading too  
> Kennie for providing wonderful examples for what Minho would wear  
> and everyone in the Chan's Kitchen server for the encouragement <3

Minho

Minho never really expected Changbin to walk out into their dining room in a bright pink, ruffled dress. He simply looked too soft, and Minho couldn’t resist giving him some extra gentle affection in return. The reaction afterwards was totally worth it because Changbin blushed and smiled so prettily when he was both accepted and given some love at the same time. 

It did have an interesting side effect for Minho, though. They became extra aware of everyone else wearing skirts and how much more interested they were. Minho always felt like he should put the other members before themself at all times. Seeing Changbin, who was just a year younger, take some extra time for himself every once in a while did make Minho want that as well. 

There was always just too much to do, so they never acted on it… well, not never, actually. Felix loves to steal (borrowing he calls it) from the others and has little fashion shows for whoever he chooses to kidnap (ask, he says) that day. One day Minho is chosen and asks the fated question.

“Can I try one on?”

Felix spins around from the closet and appraises Minho for a moment. 

“Of course! And I think I have the perfect one, too.”

He goes digging and starts throwing clothes around wildly, some of them landing at Minho’s feet or hitting them in the face (extremely unpleasant when it’s a sock). When the clothing has been acquired, he holds it up proudly like a trophy. Minho isn’t sure what it is, but something makes them feel some slight apprehension about this. They brush it off as superficial nerves when trying something new and take the skirt.

It is short, which is to be expected, but they appreciate the shorts underneath. Of course, the ultimate test is passed when the pleats fan out as they twist a little. There is immediately a plan to spin when they go back and show Felix. 

Felix is appropriately delighted and supportive of everything. 

“Hyunjin and Seungmin would totally love to see you in this one! Brown really looks good on you,” Felix nods sagely.

Minho hadn’t even considered the colour when they looked at it, so they just take Felix’s word because he knows more about this anyway. The more they think about it, the more they get nervous about anyone seeing them in this.

“Hey, Felix? How did you get the courage to tell us about the skirts?” They question.

Felix contemplates for a bit, head literally tilted like he’s an emoji.

“Well. How did you get the courage to tell us about your pronouns? That’s way more scary.”

Now Minho is the one who has to think. They try to project their mind back to that time to remember everything they felt. It’s reasonably vivid because it was a big thing and also because it built up in them for so long. 

“I mean… it was a big part of me, you know. Gender and pronouns are such important parts of who you are. This is just a fun fashion choice, so it feels different, I guess.”

“It should be way easier then! You can take it off, but you can’t exactly take off your gender.”

“My difference in pronouns isn’t exactly broadcasted to everyone I see.”

“Then only let us see you in them, at least for now.”

It seems so obvious when he says it. Minho freezes for a moment. If he isn’t comfortable with everyone seeing the skirts, then not everyone has to.

“Huh. Thanks, Felix, I never really thought about that.”

Felix doesn’t say anything else and goes back to laying out possible outfits everywhere. 

“Do you want me to choose another one for you?”

Minho appreciates the natural and calm segue.

“Not today. I’ll be coming back though, you did great,” Minho winks.

Felix giggles with his usual beaming smile, “of course I did. I’m a genius!” 

The next time Minho has a skirt-related kidnapping excursion is with Jisung. He likes to go out shopping for skirts, even if he only looks for an hour or so. Today is a bit of a different area than Jisung typically goes for: thrift stores. Even if it is different, Jisung is as excited as ever to look at everything new and he flits from rack to rack, occasionally showing or asking Minho about one.  
On the downtimes in between, their eyes drift to a couple of racks with longer skirts. Even when looking at the short skirt, they felt uncomfortable but looking at the longer ones, they think it would just look and feel more… natural. More true to themself. 

Jisung asks a question, but Minho only hears it distantly, still transfixed by the visual of wearing a long skirt.

“Hey, hello, anyone there?”

“Yes, Jisung.” Minho deadpans.

Jisung gestures with his finger to Minho, then the skirt rack and raises his eyebrows.

“You looked like you got lost for a minute. Do you want one of those?” Jisung gestures with a jerk of his head. 

Minho lets out a little laugh. “What do you mean, Sungie?”

Jisung gives them a flat look and Minho’s mind starts going. As Minho continues to inwardly worry about what he’s thinking, Jisung just continues to stare like he’s trying to take “eyes are the window to the soul” incredibly literally. 

“We’re literally here looking at skirts for me. Go get one.” 

Minho stares back at him, determined to win this strange contest that they’re technically on the same side of. Listen, no one said Minho was entirely rational, especially not when they’re already nervous.

“Dummy. Do it.” Jisung raises a threatening flick motion.

Minho scurries off to look but not without a sarcastic look towards Jisung. They like far more of them than planned and wonder how on Earth Jisung and Felix only ever looked at the skirts without buying them all. Before they know it, they have nearly 10 stacked in their arms. They manage to cull the numbers a little before Jisung comes to find them. 

“Why are you putting some back, changed your mind?”

“No, I just… don’t need that many, you know?”

Jisung rolls his eyes so hard it must hurt.

“We share all our skirts anyway. Come on, just get them.”

Jisung stands for a moment then walks away to pay for his own skirts when Minho doesn’t move. They snap out of it when he disappears behind a rack and finds most of the ones they liked before. 

Jisung smiles when they see the larger stack in Minho’s hands. They have the usual fight over who will pay, and Minho wins because they’re older, so it makes sense for them to pay. 

When they leave the store, Minho has a brief realization.

“Jisung, I didn’t try any of these on. Jisung, why didn’t I try any of these on?” They say in disbelief, staring at the bag in their hands.

“Even if it doesn’t fit, give it to someone else. No one cares who owns what at this point.”

He does have a good point, Minho has to admit. They’re also far too proud to even consider going back in and returning any of them. So they leave, and Minho flips between wondering if they’ll look good and excitement about finally having a skirt, or rather many, of their own choosing. 

When they get home, Minho was thinking so much that they rush into an empty room, their room, thankfully, to try on some of the skirts. Some of the fun is showing them to other people, however. 

They drop the bag onto the floor then head back out where, yes, Jeongin is sitting on the couch peacefully. Minho can’t resist annoying their favourite child, so they flop onto xyr legs heavily. 

“Oof, hello to you too,” xe grumbles, eyes on the tv still.

“Hello, my favourite child.”

“Don’t let Jisung hear you say that. Wait. We’re dating that’s weird, ew, stop.”

“Stop killing my fun, Innie! But I got some new things, will you come look?”

“No.”

“Jeonginnie, I call you my favourite, and this is what I get!”

Xe doesn’t answer, eyes continuing to follow whatever is happening on screen. Minho can’t be bothered enough to make their eyes focus on it.

“I was gonna surprise you, but fine.” Minho arches up to Jeongin’s ear, “skirts.”

That gets xyr attention. Wordlessly, Jeongin grabs the remote and pauses the show and nudges Minho impatiently. When they don’t get up, xe grumbles.

“You wanted to show me so move.” Once again, Minho doesn’t move, “come on, I wanna see what you got!”

At Jeongin’s admission, Minho finally gets up and bounds off towards the open door. Excitement is born again as they look back through the bag. They really get to wear these!

When Jeongin follows in more slowly, Minho looks up.

“Can you pick out shirts? Felix still hasn’t stolen me for one of his lessons, and I think I need it,” Minho says. 

Jeongin nods and opens the messy closet, and something falls from a shelf, narrowly misses hitting xyr head. 

“Innie?” Minho questions, “Quiet or tired? You know I won’t mind if you need a nap.”

“Just a quiet day. No one’s been in the living room much,” xe says simply, continuing to look through shirts.

Minho nods. Jeongin has more quiet days and more tired days than others, so Minho makes sure to check in on xem more often. Grabbing the whole bag, Minho locks the door and excitedly rifles through it. At the bottom is the most traditionally feminine one, long slit and floral, so they decide to tackle that one first. Minho discovers that they absolutely adore the feeling of a skirt swishing past their ankles.

Upon stepping out, they feel much more hesitant. Jeongin looks slightly more alive than before and does a quick appraisal. Xe seems to have a brief moment of surprise over the skirt but doesn’t comment and just looks for a match. Minho is grateful for everyone that has taken everything in stride so far. Honestly, if they hadn’t, Minho isn’t sure they’d have made it this far with skirts or anywhere at all. 

Minho is snapped out of their thoughts by a shirt flung in their face. When they grab it, they are met with a deviously smiling Jeongin. 

“Hello there, Sleeping Beauty,” xe quips. 

Minho drops the shirt in favour of immediately jumping on the new chance to tease Jeongin.

“Awwww, Innie thinks I’m pretty! Glad you’re finally acknowledging the work of art that is my face,” they lay it on thick, teasing Jeongin is just so much fun that it’s hard not to go all in. 

“Ew, get off me. You look like a cat, like one of those old cats, too,” Jeongin snarks back.

It seems strange to many others, but really it’s just their dynamic. Of course, they care for each other, but neither of them is inclined to show it openly. 

Minho gasps dramatically, “I have been mortally wounded!”

They still go back to pick up the shirt and make it work with the skirt. After getting Jeongin’s approval, they move on. It goes much faster afterwards. Of course, Jeongin provides the sassiness if xe thinks something can be done better.

That’s what Minho likes about their relationship with Jeongin. Even though they’re older, it doesn’t really feel like it, it mostly feels like they’re on an equal level, and Minho likes that. 

They get down to the last few skirts, Minho finds their favourite. It is a beautiful red galaxy print. It’s a little shorter in the front than they’d like, but space on a skirt was such a good concept that they couldn’t resist. 

Jeongin suddenly speaks up, “I never thanked you for coming out about your pronouns.”

Minho stops fiddling with the folded edge and looks up abruptly. Jeongin is looking in the closet, but Minho can tell xe isn’t actually moving xyr hands. 

“You don’t have to thank me. It was really for myself, so I could drop the weight on my shoulders.”

“Well. Even if you didn’t mean to, you really helped me feel better about my pronouns, you know? Mine are less common, but you really gave me the path to go down.” 

Minho’s mouth curves into a small smile, “I may have shown you the path, but you walked down it. And I’m so proud of you for that, darling.”

Jeongin develops a similar smile and closes xyr eyes. Minho immediately knows what xe wants and leaves a lingering kiss on xyr forehead. They cradle xe’s head on their shoulder for good measure. Jeongin rarely expresses vulnerability without prompting, so they all treasure it when it does happen. Especially Minho because as much as they appreciate it, it doesn’t always feel … right.

They’re the tsunderes, the jokers, so it feels strange to show such feelings, especially to each other.

It is winter when Minho and Hyunjin go on a date, so Minho takes the chance to convince Hyunjin to wear a longer skirt. Minho secretly planned to match with someone and bought simple matching grey block skirts. 

When Minho pulls out the skirts and explains the matching idea, Hyunjin has grabbed one and is ready to change before Minho can even finish their sentence. Hyunjin looks exceptionally soft in the fuzzy sweater, and skirt Minho provided xem, or rather xe snatched them.

Hyunjin also looks positively delighted at the change of pace in clothes. 

“Can I wear your boots? I think they’d look really good.” 

Minho pauses, as they’d been planning on wearing them as well. 

“Sure, I’m gonna go steal Sung’s boots then. Meet you outside.”

Minho turns to leave a quick kiss on Hyunjin’s cheek then heads off to find said boots in Jisung’s closet. Seungmin may be able to convince Jisung to clean his room but the closet? That’s the territory where they just don’t interfere with each other and, as such, most of them are complete disasters. Minho eventually finds them upside down and on the complete opposite sides of the closet. 

Hyunjin has found xemself otherwise occupied with a clingy koala called Felix. Minho approaches and catches Felix in a back hug effectively sandwiching him in. Felix hums happily and Minho can imagine the smile spread across his face. 

“Are you going on a date?” Felix mumbles.

Hyunjin nods excitedly, “yeah, we’re matching!” 

Felix breaks apart from both of them and Minho detaches themself as well. Many of them have a healthy appreciation for matching clothes, especially when they go out on dates. 

“Well, there should be some cookies when you get back, as long as I don’t eat too many of them,” Felix’s face lights up as he giggles. 

Minho imagines both they and Hyunjin look at Felix with the fondest expressions. That hypothesis is supported when Felix looks up and sees both of them looking at him. 

“What are you looking at me for? Out the door with you both!” Felix pushes them out the door and they both laugh again when Felix’s blush darkens across his cheeks.

Minho turns around first to leave a gentle peck on Felix’s nose and Hyunjin follows shortly after.

“I’m they’ll taste great. See you later babe,” Minho promises.

Once the door closes behind them their fingers gently entwine.

“He’s so cute!” Hyunjin gushes. 

Minho can only laugh and agree. Their sunshine indeed. 

It’s mostly a quiet date, just walking around aimlessly and just enjoying the time with each other. If only it could always be that simple.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Look at those fags, thinking they can just throw it in our faces,” a man passing by remarks. 

“Nah, that one’s probably a tranny, long hair and a skirt.” One of his friend's bites.

Minho whips around to look at them, eyes blazing.

“What the fuck did you just say?” 

The group laughs at them and Hyunjin pulls on their hand nervously.

“I said. What the fuck did you just say?”

Minho gently pulls their hand away from Hyunjin and takes a few steps closer to the group.

“Are you stupid, too? We don’t want to see you on the streets.”

“I don’t care about you but you seem to be really interested in me,” Minho shoots back. “Go run back home, you entitled brat.”

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Minho turns their back and speedwalks away. Upon turning a corner they look at Hyunjin. 

Hyunjin speaks first. “What was that!? They could have tried to hurt you!” 

Minho scoffs and looks at Hyunjin, “I’m not gonna let anybody say stuff like that about you.”

“I don’t care! Let them say what they want about me,” Hyunjin retorts.

“But I care. Even if you don’t know it, that can get to you.” 

Hyunjin just snorts and turns away, mumbling something.

“What?” Minho questions.

Xyr hands wring as xe speaks louder, “I said, I care more about you being safe more than anything.”

Minho softens and opens their arms for Hyunjin. Hyunjin rushes in and their figures slot together. Blatant care like that always gets to Minho even if xe is not entirely scarce with xyr affection.

“I”m not gonna apologize but I didn’t mean to make you worry so much,” Minho explains.

Hyunjin nods and pulls away. Minho takes xyr hand again and leads the way to a cafe they passed before. They settle back into comfortable conversation and end up discussing future birthday plans. At the same time, they try to get their own birthday plans from the other and end up giggling and playing a childish game of jinx. 

Before leaving, Minho grabs a slice of cheesecake for Jisung as an apology for stealing his boots and taking them in the snow. 

“Hey, Minho?” Chan calls, muffled.

Minho drifts into the room and Chan is expectedly halfway in his closet, headfirst.

One of his arms pops out and he’s holding a very strange skirt. It doesn’t really look like anything any of them would typically wear so they’re not sure where it came from. Chan pops up and faces Minho, throwing something onto the floor behind him. 

“So Jeongin gave this to me but it doesn’t actually fit. Do you wanna try it on?”

Minho takes and inspects it. They honestly have no idea why Jeongin would have bought this. Experimentation, maybe? It does have the shorts layer underneath and so Minho is willing to give it a chance. 

They put it on and only become further confused about why Jeongin would ever buy this skirt. There’s a chain across the front and the slit is actually quite wide when on a human body. It is actually quite a nice skirt but unfortunately for everyone else, Minho will not be wearing it outside for the world to see. Other people seeing it doesn’t really matter if their seven other partners can see it, that’s plenty of attention even without a fancy skirt on. 

When Minho exits, Chan is nowhere to be seen so Minho heads out to the living room. Initially looking for Jeongin to ask questions but instead, they run into Jisung. Well, Jisung is running anyway.

“Oof, hi! Where’d you get that from?”

Minho marvels at the speed at which Jisung can completely switch topics. Whoever was behind him is gone, to be fair, so there’s no longer an imminent threat.

“Chan’s closet. Doesn’t fit him so I stole it.”

“It looks cute! His style, for sure.”

Jisung steps forward, nose to nose with Minho, and rests his hands lightly on Minho’s waist. The flash of colour makes Minho really look at Jisung’s flannel.

“Hey, look Sungie, we match!” 

Jisung makes a noise then breaks out into a smile at the new discovery.

“We could totally be that couple if we go out then. If you wanna go out in that, that is.”

Minho appreciates the collective perceptiveness of all of them together. They never told even one of them that they didn’t like wearing shorter skirts outside and yet they all understand that. 

“I normally wouldn’t but we match so nicely.” They trail off, tugging absentmindedly on the sleeve of Jisung’s shirt.

“Think about it. It’s not like it’s warm enough right now.”

Minho hums and allows their eyes to flutter closed. Jisung chuckles and provides the kisses he knows Minho desires.

The rest of them always know what Minho needs, even if they don’t know it themself.

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, I now have plans to write an installment for everyone in SKZ. It will likely be in order from who I feel has the most to least fics of them in skirts.


End file.
